An idea I had…

So today is Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday or whatever you’d like to call it. I do intend on eating a load of pancakes this evening and going in search of Pączkis this afternoon but I’ve also decided for the first time since I was a kid to give up something for lent.

I grew up in a religious community and lent was of course a really important part of the Easter season- Although my opinions and ideas related to organized religion have shifted quite a bit since then, I can definitely appreciate the idea of taking some time out to reflect and deny yourself something for a couple weeks. I think it’s important to challenge yourself and find little ways to improve how you interact with the people around you and your environment.

For the next fourty days- starting tomorrow – I will not purchase or use single use or disposable plastics. I’m going to try to avoid plastics all together.

The inspiration for this idea came from this TED talk by Dianna Cohen-

I think it’s going to be a HUGE challenge- I’ll hopefully be able to come out of this with all sorts of neat ideas and alternatives for people who want to change the amount of their own plastic consumption.

As a side note- I’m not throwing out the plastic things that I currently have ie. the ketchup bottle gets to stay- but I’m not going to add to the pile- grocery shopping is going to be a real treat… heh